


Only Human

by beshky



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Introspection, Romance, Romantic Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-20
Updated: 2013-06-15
Packaged: 2017-11-26 04:14:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/646455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beshky/pseuds/beshky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chell returns to Aperture after suffering from the physical harm and exhaustion that resulted from her release into the open world. GLaDOS battles an inner-conflict as she tries to decide what to do with her. In the meantime, the two are as stubborn as ever with neither wanting to reveal their long hidden affection for each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> 2 things:  
> ->I am sorry for whatever pitiful viewing state this work may be in when I publish it as I'm trying to get the hang of the AO3 interface.  
> ->This is my first ever work of romantic fanfiction (or any at all that I actually took seriously), so I would highly appreciate constructive criticism to help me improve.
> 
> And that's all I really have to say on that matter! If you enjoy this, please tell me so that I could continue it! I'm planning on writing more chapters, but some motivation would be great!

"Alright", said GLaDOS with a sigh. "Let's try this again. Orange. Blue. Back to your starting positions."  
The bots gave a wave as they stepped out of a door, freshly minted, their previous bodies disintegrating in an acid lake.  
This was starting to get frustrating. Though she made the two of them so that they're not afraid to die and can be easily replaced, they're clumsy. They are slightly more intelligent than turrets. They have to be, of course, considering they have to face them in their tests. But they're not the brightest. This is no fault of GLaDOS, however. She has restrictions to how intelligent she can make them. We don't want another rebellion, now do we?  
Yes, this is a more practical way to approach testing due to the endless supply of test subjects. But at what cost? She could improve them so that they do complete a test without flaw, but then that'll lead to a lack of any flaw. And what's the fun in that? If they pass every test without some sort of fluke, that'll get just as boring. It's missing something. Something....  
Human.  
Not like she could get one at this point. The last one in the facility was Chell and she's not coming back. Good riddance. Sub-par testing triumphs over a facility-destroying lunatic. No, the human element is not important. Tests can be completed by AIs just as well, if not better than those putrid apes.  
But it's alright because, when she wasn't testing Atlas and P-body, she's been doing her own private testing, sin portal gun. She's been working on making a more mobile version of herself. An android. Despite having full control of the facility in her current body, she still has many blind spots. She learned that from Chell.  
So, rather than leave it up to Atlas and P-body to put more cameras all over the place, she decided to take it upon herself. Though she would never admit it, GLaDOS had enjoyed walking through the facility with Chell and getting a view she never got to experience before. Well, getting carried. As a potato. Forked by the operational end of a portal device.  
GLaDOS shuddered at the memory.  
Well, it doesn't matter. GLaDOS is perfectly content between testing and building an android and Chell's off somewhere doing whatever it is she does when she's not destroying Aperture Laboratories. All is perfectly fine.  
" _Warning: Security breach in the central control chamber lobby. Security alarms activated._ "  
"What? That's impossible! _There's nobody here!_ ", GLaDOS shouted over the alarms. "What could possibly-"  
She stopped.  
The alarms went silent. Something is wrong. Something is horribly wrong. She's seeing something she shouldn't be. It must be an error. It has to be some sort of error. If it is, it's terrifying. If it's not....  
No. She can't be here. Why would _she_ be here? If GLaDOS was human, she would probably collapse to her knees at this point. But she's not, thank god, so she has no need for such a disgustingly weak display, even if she had knees to collapse on.  
GLaDOS blinked and the vision was still there. She blinked again. And again. And again. It was still there. She considered rebooting, but didn't. She was hearing something. Something very loud and labored.  
Breathing.  
The world stopped turning as GLaDOS reached out her claw and gently poked Chell in the shoulder.  
Unlike GLaDOS, Chell actually did collapse to her knees before falling flat on the floor. Though, this wasn't due to shock so much as exhaustion and terrible physical condition. Her breathing, though quieter, could still be heard.  
Lifting the human's unconscious body from the floor, the AI paid no heed to the robots who just completed their test.


	2. Chapter 2

Chell woke up in a cocoon of white blankets. Bringing her arms out of the entanglement, she pushed off the bed in an attempt to sit up. Pain ran through her spine and she quickly dropped back down. She then began to feel a horrible headache. As she raised her hand up to her temple, she felt gauze beneath her fingertips. Upon further inspection, she realized her arms were bandaged as well. She threw the sheets off her bare body. Here and there were scrapes and bruises of different sizes and hues. She rotated her feet and wiggled her toes. They checked out fine save for some strain on her left ankle. She turned it over and stitches running 4 inches down, from ankle to heel, greeted her.  
Chell jerked her head up. A blinking red light caught her eye. An active security camera. Shifting her vision away from the voyeuristic device, she scanned the room for a clue of her location, though she had a fair guess. It didn't take long to confirm her suspicion and find the familiar Aperture logo stamped on a half-filled glass sitting on a nightstand near the bed. She stared at it. It was mocking her. _Welcome back_ , it said. _Third time's the charm._  
She drank the water from the glass and flopped back down to her pillow, letting the glass slip from her grasp and shatter as it made contact with the tiled floor.  
"Ah. The sound of destruction", a computerized voice said through the speaker system. "You're awake."  
The voice did not startle Chell. She remained motionless on her bed. Though no words escaped her mouth, her body spoke for her in the form of a loud growl. She was famished.  
"There is a food package in the first drawer of the nightstand", said GLaDOS. "Try not to break anything else with your poor motor skills. I'll be there in a few minutes."  
Chell rolled over and stuck her lazy arm out towards the drawer. She hooked a finger under an indented handle and pulled. Her face in her pillow, she groped the contents of the drawer until she came across an aluminum box and picked it up. She sat up and opened the box in her lap. A thermos sat snug next to a sandwich, an apple, and a bottle of water. She opened the thermos and steam hit her face. Soup. She took a sip and burnt her tongue. She closed it, deciding to drink it later. Chell then freed the sandwich from its wrapping and took a bite. It was delicious. Then again, anything is when you haven't eaten in who knows how many hours.  
As Chell mercilessly attacked her food, she didn't notice the footsteps coming towards her. It was only after she finished eating that she looked up to see a second person in the room.  
Chell jumped, hitting her head against the wall behind her. She instinctively scrambled back as far as possible, distancing herself from the figure by kicking her feet off the mattress. An unknown woman stood before her. Upon closer inspection, Chell realized she wasn't human. She was almost completely white, the fluorescent lights on the ceiling reflecting off her skin. She wore a button-down lab coat, an Aperture logo over her left breast. Looking up, she met her face, framed by white bobbed hair that was slightly curled inwards. It reminded Chell of a flapper. Yellow lights shined through her irises. Her lips, as black as the logo on her chest, were curved into an amused smile.  
"Would you look at that?", said GLaDOS. "You're afraid. The psycho who brought this entire facility to pieces, twice, is _afraid._ "  
Chell’s muscles relaxed. When she said she’ll be there in a few minutes, Chell didn’t think much of it. She thought she might have been near her chamber and that maybe she would lower her body down from the ceiling. But there she was, standing in front of her, in the form of an artificial human. A very attractive one, at that. Chell began to feel self conscious. All those insults GLaDOS would fling at her really made no difference considering she herself was a cycloptic giant hunk of metal and wires. This time, though, she wasn’t. She was gorgeous. Too perfect to be human, and yet she had the appearance of one. She did this on purpose. As a final ‘fuck you’ to the human race, she took the form of the perfect human so she could wear it better than any real, weak, carbon-based mammal ever could.  
As if she couldn’t feel any worse, after looking over GLaDOS’s new body a few times, Chell remembered she herself was naked. She quickly brought her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, curling herself into a ball. A blush crept over her face while she darted her eyes across the floor in search of the sheets she dropped earlier. Laughter echoed throughout the room as GLaDOS picked the sheets up and threw them in her direction.  
"But seriously, now", she said, all trace of humor gone from her face. "What part of 'don't come back' failed to get through your thick, and surprisingly durable, skull? I gave you your freedom, and yet here you are. What's with that look? Do you not remember anything? Dear god. Did you think I kidnapped you after I let you go just for the sake of some cruel joke? Please, don't flatter yourself. You waltzed in here on your own and dropped like a sack of- anyway, I went through the trouble of patching up your disgusting wounds and giving you a comfortable environment to recuperate in. The least you could do is show some appreciation.”  
Appreciation wasn’t the first thing to cross Chell’s mind. She was dumbfounded. Why was she doing this? Why bother helping her at all? She could have just let her die. Endless questions rang through her head, begging to be asked, but her lips barred their passage. Not once has she ever uttered a word throughout her time in Aperture, and she wasn’t about to start.  
Chell met GLaDOS’s eyes and gave a single nod. _There_ , she thought. _There’s your ‘thank you’_.  
“Oh yes, I can feel the sincerity radiating from that effortless gesture”, said GLaDOS. “Then again, there’s not much you can do to repay such a great act of kindness. I _did_ save your life. This isn’t the first time either. Surely, you remember the prior event? And what was it that I requested of you? Oh, right! I told you to leave. You know, the thing you’ve been trying to do since you got here? Or was it all a ploy? Maybe your entire existence is dedicated to endlessly chastising me, no matter what I do for you. Or maybe it’s just Stockholm Syndrome. In which case, you have a terrible way of showing your affection. You should work on that. In fact, you can practice by not indulging in your destructive nature and, instead, doing something productive.”  
Chell tilted her head in confusion. GLaDOS said herself she no longer needed her for testing. She had two robots for that. Two robots she constructed _herself_. What could she do if not testing?  
“I have several tasks that I’m going to assign to you”, said GLaDOS. “Your first task will be assigned in an hour. Until then, use your free time wisely. You can start by getting dressed. Your clothes are in the bottom drawer of that cabinet.”  
Chell glanced at the cabinet, but made no movement toward it. Her hands tightened their grip on the sheets covering her body.  
GLaDOS smirked.  
“There really is no reason to be shy considering I’ve already seen everything.”  
GLaDOS walked towards the elevator. Before leaving the room, she turned around.  
“Keep in mind that you are only staying here until you are fully healed. After your revitalization, I will provide you with equipment that will guarantee your survival in the outside world, despite your own incompetence. After that, you will have absolutely no reason to come back, and can enjoy the rest of your miserable life without seeking my company.”  
She entered the elevator.  
“Oh, and welcome back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaahhhh! I'm sorry it took so long to post the second chapter. I have been overwhelmed with schoolwork and I wanted to be sure to improve on the faults I had in the previous chapter like length and detailed description. I hope I did a better job. Thank you all for reading and to those of you who left reviews on the previous chapter! I'd appreciate if you would take some time to tell me whether or not I did worse or better on this one!


	3. Chapter 3

GLaDOS stepped out of the elevator. That encounter went better than she had anticipated. She actually enjoyed it. After weeks of failing to antagonize Atlas and P-body through her various barbed comments and mind games, she absolutely reveled in not only having someone who understood her, but, for once, had an obvious reaction to her passive aggressive jibes. Though she would never admit it, she was happy to see Chell return.  
This wasn’t her initial reaction, however. After the shock had passed, precisely 5 nanoseconds after Chell’s collapse, it was replaced with anger. Why? Why does she keep coming back? She let her go. That should have been enough. She shouldn’t bother her now. Her survival was her own problem. But no. That selfish creature had to make others suffer for her own well being. She should just throw her out. She made her bed and now she can die in it. GLaDOS would have nothing to do with it. Well, except for her mixed day and night schedule. But who cares about that? Humans can easily adapt to a new sleep cycle.

Except she never slept.

Aside from the prolonged amount of time she spent in her relaxation vault, she had uninterrupted testing thanks to the constant stream adrenal vapors pumped down her throat. That, plus a significant lack in actual sunlight and fresh air, couldn’t possibly add up to a very healthy start. Maybe letting her out so suddenly wasn’t such a good idea. GLaDOS didn't really want her to die, either. Well, at least not by her doing. It would be an unsatisfying death; she'd be killing her after she'd already given up on doing so and in a way that's not even direct murder. The mighty Chell would die not at the hands of an omniscient supercomputer, but because she had a hard time adapting to a world that was supposed to be safer than the deathtrap of Aperture. No, she'd let her live and save them both the embarrassment of such an anticlimactic end.  
Little did she know she would come not to mind her company, much to the failure of trying to convince herself otherwise. It was thus, as she processed this revelation during her confrontation with Chell, that she decided this would be a temporary arrangement. Not that she ever thought of making it permanent. Of course not. The mere idea was inconceivable. Insulting. No, it was just that she had to make it clear that it was going to be temporary. You had to be blunt with such a terribly stubborn woman. No, that was the last time. There would be no reason for her to come back when she’s done there and, if one thing’s for certain, despite whatever neural damage she must have accumulated throughout her life and however insane her actions may seem, she always had a reason for doing them. So, when the time comes, with one _final_ final farewell, GLaDOS will give her all she needs, eliminating all reasons for returning, and they’ll part ways for good.  
In the meantime, however, there’s no harm in playing around with her a bit for old time’s sake.  
GLaDOS peeked through the camera in Chell's room. Chell was dressed and spending the remainder of her allotted hour sleeping. She lay on her left side, her legs curled in. Her face was half buried in a pillow, her left arm supporting it from underneath. Her other arm was slung over the side of the bed, fingertips almost touching the floor. She breathed through her nose, inhaling and exhaling, her chest gently rising and falling in her silent sleep.  
It was different, seeing her this way. It wasn't like when she was in stasis. Warm, yet frozen. Breathing, yet lifeless as a corpse. Trapped in time, both dead and alive. A cat in a box, waiting for someone to open the lid and determine her fate. But at that moment, she was alive. The box was gone. She was no longer frozen, just floating in blissful unconsciousness.  
For the first time, she was actually, genuinely relaxed.

* * *

 

Chell stared at the materials in front of her. A blank piece of paper and a ballpoint pen.  
"Your first task is to make up for your lack of verbal skills and limited body language through other means of communication.", said GLaDOS. "Describe what happened to somehow put you in worse shape than the miserable physical structure you had to begin with."  
Chell took the pen in her hand and placed the sheet of paper on the tablet on her lap. Ready to make the first mark on the page, she paused. As she tried to remember the events that led to her return, she realized she couldn’t recall anything just prior to when she re-entered the facility. She put the pen down and closed her eyes.  
She left the facility and entered a field of wheat, followed by that burnt up, old companion cube. Forced to leave her long lost friend due to a lack of a portal gun to carry the heavy weight, she wandered through the field hither and thither until she came across a corn forage. There was plenty to eat, and eat it she did, but no shelter, so she kept moving. There were flashes of her consuming things that didn’t sit well later, followed by sickness and days with no nourishment whatsoever. With each passing day, the struggle to find some sort of civilization became harder and harder to bear. She was getting weak.  
This lead her to believe that the events that followed were hallucinations. Chell somehow found herself in what appeared to be a crater full of holes. In the center of the crater was a pile of large branches, leaves, moss, and some sort of flimsy white material resembling sheddings. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a nest; hundreds of eggs snugly wrapped in nature’s blanket.  
After that, everything went by in flashes. She smashed the eggs open and started eating them, but stopped when something snagged her leg. It stabbed her foot. She turned around and, for a few seconds, met a pair of blank, yellow eyes. The creature they belonged to was of a sickly shade of green and appeared to have rotting tumors all over its body. If she didn't know any better, and if she wasn't so bleary-eyed and exhausted, Chell could've sworn its face was human. She didn’t get the chance to get a closer look because something else grabbed her arm, lifting her up before throwing her to the ground. Something cracked. She caught a peek of a sharp green limb before she received a blow to her head. There was black, and then there wasn’t. And then she was running. No direction whatsoever, Chell followed wherever her adrenaline-fueled legs took her, until she tripped over a box. Again, she fell to the ground. Not ready to give up, she lifted her head. Her eyes couldn’t focus on what exactly was in front of her, but she knew it was a shelter of some sort. She reached her arms out to touch it. Metal. Her hand crawled higher. Unlocked.  
She opened the door. It looked familiar, but she didn’t have the mental strength to recall why. Her instincts told her familiarity was good, and so she followed them, jumping down the shaft. And then she woke up in Aperture.  
As she jumped back into the present, Chell had to face the problem of how to describe what she had experienced. She had paper and a pen, but writing was something she wanted to avoid. She dodged it with her test subject application, she could dodge it with her, too. There was another method of description. It would still end in her making a fool of herself, but at least the act would have some form of protest within it. Chell picked up the pen and started sketching.

* * *

 

“A drawing. How cute.”, said GLaDOS, glancing at the paper she received. “Very messy and smudged. Looks like a child’s work. Now, if you recall about 20 minutes ago, I didn’t ask you for a self-portrait. So how about you actually tell me what happened?”

Chell let out a sigh. She had drawn what she remembered of the scene when she found those eggs. In addition, she drew a few vague profiles of the creatures living there. Chell reached for the paper, thinking maybe she could draw a few arrows and write a word or two to describe it better, but her attempt was foiled by GLaDOS, who withdrew it from her range. They locked eyes for a moment, neither daring to make an expression, and before GLaDOS could make a comment, Chell grabbed the pen at her side and started writing on an unbandaged section on her upper left arm. The effort to avoid verbal communication was not worth it if it couldn't get the task done. The silent woman would remain silent; her words would not spill from her lips, but rather from her pen. She wrote one sentence. A simple sentence, not even a complete one at that.

_Found nest, attacked by large green burrowing creatures, species unknown._

“A nest. I’m going to presume that these are eggs, then.”, GLaDOS said, pointing to the drawing. “Now unless there wasn’t any other game nearby, which is highly unlikely considering that they built a nest there, animals of any kind normally don’t attack unless provoked. Now, they probably attacked you for intruding upon their territory, though I recall finding something very interesting after you plopped yourself on my floors. Your body was in great lack of all vital nutrients, except one; protein.

“Tell me”, she continued. “How did you have them? Scrambled or sunny-side up? Or did you decide to skip cooking altogether and ravage them like an animal? Honestly, you should have seen yourself, yolk and shell all over your face. Got it all over your clothes, too. So not only did you step on their turf, but you decided to snack on their young and smear the remains all over yourself. Then again, you always were a sloppy murderer. Can’t kill anyone without leaving a trail of destruction, can you?”

Chell ignored her remarks. She was thinking about what GLaDOS was going to have her do next. She’d already told her everything, what else could there possibly be left for a disabled human to do that an A.I., with two bots and a traveling android body, can’t?

“Stand up.”

Chell snapped out of her musings and did as she was told. Or, at least, attempted. Upon getting herself to her feet, she felt a sharp stab of pain run down her spine and another shoot up from her left foot, sending a paralyzing shock through her body. As she lost her balance, she reached out for the nearest hold, which happened to be GLaDOS's arm. GLaDOS proved to be a very sturdy hold, for her own balance was unaffected by the momentum of the human clinging to her. She quickly grabbed Chell’s hands in her own and pulled them forward to help her stand on her feet, earning a cringe from Chell, then placed her hands on the bed for balance.

"You might need these", said GLaDOS, picking up a pair of crutches from under the bed. "Task two; self-performed physical therapy. The Announcer will provide you with directions."

Chell took the crutches, but fell back on her bed while trying to stand on them. She continued to fiddle with the crutches, almost falling to the floor again, until she noticed there wasn't somebody standing next to her anymore. She looked up to find that GLaDOS was at the opposite end of the room, one foot in the elevator.

“Miss me already? Don’t worry”, said GLaDOS, pointing at one of the cameras in the room. “I’m still here.”

With those last words, the vessel left the room, but the god remained present, watching the long-awaited human struggle.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *There are two ways to interpret that last sentence, and both are correct.  
> *In regards to the Announcer, she's referring to the automated voice you hear that tells you what "exercises" to do after coming out of extended suspension and also the same voice you heard talking you through the core transfers. (In the subtitles he is referred to as "Announcer")
> 
> I could start rambling about how sorry I am that I took so long to update (fucking FOUR MONTHS) and how I had a lot of stuff going on (AP exams, general life drama, getting sick, etc etc), but that would be a waste of everyone's time. Instead, I present you with this chapter. I swear next chapter will have more obvious romance, this one was harder to include within context.
> 
> I've been really paranoid about this chapter. Hope it's up to good standard and characterization in spite of my own self-doubt.
> 
> God I'm tired.
> 
> EDIT: Once again, comments and criticism are highly appreciated and keep me going! Thank you all who commented on previous chapters! It would be really great to know if this one was up to that standard!


End file.
